Sept. 27, 2005

BALTIMORE, MD -- Riding the crest of a seven-game winning streak that dates back to last season, the Johns Hopkins football team is ranked 24th in this week's American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Coaches' Poll, which was released today. The Blue Jays are currently 3-0 after being listed as receiving votes in last week's poll, the first of the 2005 season.

Johns Hopkins received 84 points in this week's poll to earn its number 24 ranking. The Blue Jays opened the season with a 9-7 win at Rochester, followed that with a 24-0 win over Randolph-Macon and added a 9-6 win at Carnegie Mellon on September 17 before enjoying a bye last Saturday. The three wins extend Hopkins' overall winning streak to seven games dating back to last season, when JHU closed with four straight wins to cap a 9-2 season. The seven-game winning streak is tied for the second longest in school history.

In addition to its overall winning streak the Blue Jays will carry a seven-game winning streak on the road into Saturday's game at Dickinson. The Blue Jays have not lost on the road since late in the 2003 season and the seven-game road winning streak is tied for the longest in school history.

Under the guidance of 16th-year head coach Jim Margraff, the Blue Jay football program has enjoyed a great deal of success since 1990. Margraff ranks as the all-time winningest football coach in school history with a 97-55-3 (.635) record and the 97 games Johns Hopkins has won under Margraff's guidance in 15-plus seasons are two more than Hopkins had won in the previous 23 seasons combined. Since the beginning of the 1995 season, the Blue Jays are 73-31-1 (.700).

AFCA Division III Coaches' Poll ? Through Games of 9-27-05 1. Linfield (OR) (33) 2-0 991

2. Mount Union (OH) (7) 3-0 951

3. Mary Hardin Baylor (TX) 2-0 916

4. Rowan (NJ) 3-0 854

5. Hardin Simmons (TX) 3-0 828

6. St. John's (MN) 4-0 792

7. Washington & Jefferson (PA) 4-0 729

8. Wheaton (IL) 3-0 663

9. Ithaca (NY) 3-0 660

10. Occidental (CA) 3-0 612

11. Wisconsin Whitewater 3-0 591

12. Trinity (TX) 3-0 537

13. Delaware Valley (PA) 4-0 474

14. Carthage (WI) 2-0 472

15. Concordia-Moorehead (MN) 3-0 380

16. Wisconsin-La Crosse 1-1 357

17. Wooster (OH) 3-0 271

18. Hampden-Sydney (VA) 3-0 261

19. Hobart 9BYT) 3-0 212

20. St. John Fisher (NY) 3-1 172

21. Wisconsin-Stout 3-0 129

22. Bridgewater (VA) 2-1 124

23. Coe (IO) 3-0 117

24. Johns Hopkins (MD) 3-0 86

25. McDaniel (MD) 3-0 84

Others Receiving Votes: Monmouth-77, Millikin-74, Salisbury-66, Union-52, Trinity (CT)-46 Wabash-45, Capital-40, Alma-32, Augustana-30, Ferrum-27, North Central-25, Centre-24, Whitworth-24, Mount St. Joseph-18, Adrian-17, Wisconsin-Oshkosh-16, Wisconsin Eau Claire-16, Albright-8, Thiel-8, Baldwin Wallace-8, Montclair State-5, Texas Lutheran-5, Moravian-4, St. Olaf-4, Christopher Newport-4, Cortland State-2, Fitchburg-2, Luther-2, Bridgewater State-1 - 30 -